Categories > Original > Sci-Fi > The Legend of Changeling (concept)
Sooka sits in a dungeon cell underneath the emperor's castle in Comeiran. Having been treated in the infirmary on Delthrain's ship, she wears a patch over her right eye. Talen Qube, followed by Delthrain, looks through the barred cell door with a guard on either side.
"What a pleasant surprise!" Talen smiles, "Fancy seeing you again, Sooka!"
"Talen—" Sooka acknowledges him with contempt.
"Oh, that is Emperor Talen Qube, now, but you would know that, would you not?"
"I do not know what you mean," Sooka feigns ignorance.
"The destruction of the portal near here was too well-timed to merely be a coincidence. That and—" Talen reveals the black box from the site of the explosion and plays the message on it.
Sooka scoffs sardonically, "You caught me."
"Open the cell," Talen orders one of the guards and they do so. He approaches Sooka and kneels, asking her, "Why?"
"Why what?"
Talen backhands her, "Why did you destroy it!?"
Sooka continues to feign ignorance, "Destroy what!?"
"The portal!"
"Which one!?"
"Either one!"
"To keep you from spreading your tyranny! To keep you from destroying another society!"
"Destroy? I am trying to save the empire from stagnation, from death! An empire must expand or die!"
"At the expense of others!?"
"Anything it takes! That fool Fan Ling and those before him lacked vision, allowing those willing primitives called the Tijiki to be independent and surpass us! But I—I will bring the empire glory; the entirety of the universe will tremble at the name of the Qubic Empire; and I will be recognized as a god!"
Suddenly, Talen feels something. Looking down, he finds a blade protruding from his abdomen and blood pouring from his mouth. During his mad rambling, he had turned his back on Sooka, who had a dagger that Delthrain had "accidentally" left lying around on the ship.
"My liege!" Delthrain enters the cell as Talen's body falls to the floor. He draws his rapier and runs Sooka through, killing her.
While Talen's heir is his son, Rubarth Qube, Sr., he refused to become emperor. Rubarth, among others, had futilely pleaded with Talen and Delthrain not to go through with the coup. Many members of the Qube and Rouge families were disgusted with what they had done.
With no opposition, Delthrain Frederick Rouge declares himself the new emperor of the Qubic Empire. He does not, however, change its name, as he still believes in Talen's "vision", even though he had thought of assassinating Talen himself. Sooka is his scapegoat. Delthrain's four-year-old daughter, Clarice Isabella Rouge, is now also a princess. Delthrain has no empress, as he is a widower whose late wife's name was Samantha.
On Wanexeter, the Tijiki and anti-Qubic rebels establish the New Changeling Covenant or "NCC". The first leader of the NCC is Intendant Quoloft Young, and the NCC's capital city is named "Sooka" for his mother.
"What a pleasant surprise!" Talen smiles, "Fancy seeing you again, Sooka!"
"Talen—" Sooka acknowledges him with contempt.
"Oh, that is Emperor Talen Qube, now, but you would know that, would you not?"
"I do not know what you mean," Sooka feigns ignorance.
"The destruction of the portal near here was too well-timed to merely be a coincidence. That and—" Talen reveals the black box from the site of the explosion and plays the message on it.
Sooka scoffs sardonically, "You caught me."
"Open the cell," Talen orders one of the guards and they do so. He approaches Sooka and kneels, asking her, "Why?"
"Why what?"
Talen backhands her, "Why did you destroy it!?"
Sooka continues to feign ignorance, "Destroy what!?"
"The portal!"
"Which one!?"
"Either one!"
"To keep you from spreading your tyranny! To keep you from destroying another society!"
"Destroy? I am trying to save the empire from stagnation, from death! An empire must expand or die!"
"At the expense of others!?"
"Anything it takes! That fool Fan Ling and those before him lacked vision, allowing those willing primitives called the Tijiki to be independent and surpass us! But I—I will bring the empire glory; the entirety of the universe will tremble at the name of the Qubic Empire; and I will be recognized as a god!"
Suddenly, Talen feels something. Looking down, he finds a blade protruding from his abdomen and blood pouring from his mouth. During his mad rambling, he had turned his back on Sooka, who had a dagger that Delthrain had "accidentally" left lying around on the ship.
"My liege!" Delthrain enters the cell as Talen's body falls to the floor. He draws his rapier and runs Sooka through, killing her.
While Talen's heir is his son, Rubarth Qube, Sr., he refused to become emperor. Rubarth, among others, had futilely pleaded with Talen and Delthrain not to go through with the coup. Many members of the Qube and Rouge families were disgusted with what they had done.
With no opposition, Delthrain Frederick Rouge declares himself the new emperor of the Qubic Empire. He does not, however, change its name, as he still believes in Talen's "vision", even though he had thought of assassinating Talen himself. Sooka is his scapegoat. Delthrain's four-year-old daughter, Clarice Isabella Rouge, is now also a princess. Delthrain has no empress, as he is a widower whose late wife's name was Samantha.
On Wanexeter, the Tijiki and anti-Qubic rebels establish the New Changeling Covenant or "NCC". The first leader of the NCC is Intendant Quoloft Young, and the NCC's capital city is named "Sooka" for his mother.
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